Rosewater Glasses
by Alicorn Tapestry
Summary: When the fires of a brave new world for Townsville turn to war, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup find themselves at last standing as full grown heroes…Alone. AU. Last of the Garment Trilogy. Hibbles- Buttercup/Ace-Blossom/?


_Author's Note:_

This is the sequel to both Pomegranate Legwarmers and Ambrosia Gloves (in that order and required reading before this ) and the last in the series. Dates are based on the flow of time from if the girls had been born (as five year olds) on November 18, 1998 (the start of the official tv series). I do not own any copyrighted elements used, all rightful honors go to the Beatles, etc.

**_Rosewater Glasses_**

_I was young . . . and I saw everything through rose-colored spectacles._

_Prologue_

_December 5, 201X_

_My name is Blossom, as of this journal I am twenty years old. My last name doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I was a Powerpuff Girl._

In the light of early morning dew clung to a spider web.

The timid brown speck of a tunnel spider retreated back into the shadows as tall, dried wild barley bent underfoot.

A burst of inhuman speed swayed tree branches into thoughtful movement, pulling the figure on and on, held up to a dizzy pace by the force of her heartbeat in her ear, demanding the full force of her long legs.

Frost coated mud crunched between her bare toes.

_If you are reading this file it means that we are gone... and chances are that title means nothing to you._

Hollow drawn out coughs, small but labored, hit her chest like a drum, cutting into her own sob as she reached the barbed wire fence of the Townsville Farmsville city line.

The sudden sound of a sleepy grazing cow in the distance sent her face first into the damp grass.

Tear stains marked her red freckled cheeks a gray white as she scratched at the earth, placing the bundle in her arms carefully on a flat stone.

Another hollow cough met the true morning light with a weak small lobster claw from the folds...and was silent.

Sedusa slowly lowered the stone now in her hands from it's path above the toddler's head and curled herself into a ball around the tiny corpse in the sun.

_But please, let me make things right with this story. To start the truth is...no __one knew._

* * *

Bubbles

* * *

_The brown shade of human skin passed under my hand, the pink blush marking my palm in a light line against his high cheek. Any other husband maybe then, might have turned his head slightly, might have kissed where any other girl would have had fingers. But he didn't, and I didn't. Eight years, and still, still every time I touched him like this. His eyes wide, surprised, too surprised to keep up the illusion of human eyes, too taken aback by a gentle touch. I knew he didn't understand._

_I let my hand fall to my dressing gown catching the silk ribbons underneath. But I also knew..._

"_All this talk, we're going to be late!"_

* * *

_**Peace**_

* * *

**The City of Townsville!**

A view of the earth from space zoomed in to the western coast of the US, cut off here and there by thousands of feet of drifting clouds.

**A town that knows where it's going and where it's been, balancing the fragile Faberge egg we call government on this most joyful of days. A long time in coming wedding between two love birds that were just meant to be...hm, what's this?**

"Yes mother, I am wearing clean undergarments!"

A man stood atop the cloud bank, dwarfing the gold hooded figure of a woman as she reached up to pick at his own golden robes. Out of nowhere poofed into existence fine robes woven of silver and scarfs of the finest yarn decorated with swan feathers.

"No I don't need a - Mother, earth _cannot_ be as cold as all that, even if I was susceptible! "

The angel known as Nicodemus fidgeted under the extra attention floating up out of her reach with a flick of metal boned paper feathered wings.

"Mother?"

"That's what every one of your brothers and sisters said before leaving. They never come back, any of them! Who knows if they got sick or worst. At least, take your H.A.L.O."

"Mother. Mother! I am eight million years old, I am a man now."

Nicodemus smoothed back a lock of his short navy blue hair rolling his eyes as Her floated up to meet his new height under her own power of a trail of mist.

"You needn't worry about me so. I will be back, this is my home, the H.A.L.O system will see to that."

His sigh cut short, grabbing what looked like a ring of interconnected circlets of wire from her hands as he noticed the line of an unseen camera view about to drift away in disinterest. He quickly set a long fingered hand to the side of the floating metal now above his head, sending the rings humming as they spun in place.

With a gentle gust of wind from a paper feather wing the bottomless faceless hood of Her found itself aimed off into a point beyond view.

"Here, here, why not tell the mighty Narrator of your planing the quail migrations?"

Somewhere within the hood a deep blue blush of enthusiasm floated as Her clasped her hands together with a loud thunder like boom that made the unseen camera shake.

"Oh yes! Did you ever notice the small differential radius of their flight pattern in autumn?! It-"

**But,but I need to be narrating the weddin-**

Nathaniel's fleeting smirk while dipping from the clouds was lost to the distracted narrators sight.

* * *

The barely controlled chaos of a blue flash of light had the uncommon air of being common place.

Within the small gathering of demons it sped here and there, finally wheeling to rest where a small yellow puff of fabric crawled its way across the carpet.

Faces of the varied slim, red skinned, milky eyed, black-haired men and women clustered around her. All wore a triftshops' worth of ill-fitting frilled woman's clothing, making uneasy jerks forward now and again. Not accustomed to standing still, their dust-covered, black hoofed feet and lobster clawed hands joined in an uneasy pattered shuffle.

"Are you sure you don't wish us to help, Majesty?"

A knobby-kneed wisp of a demon asked fiddling with a pair of hot pink rhinestone edged reading grasses that kept making their way down his nose. An equally drained looking woman at his elbow in the gathering stifled a growl, putting a claw to her lips as a hushing motion that neither of their blind eyes could witness, and swiping the glasses away in the folds of scarfs layered as a makeshift dress.

"No, I'll find it just fine myself , thank you!" Bubbles snapped with a wave backward, half her body now edged firmly under a California king size papasan style bed.

The group surrounding her parted with a whispered gasp, all falling to their knees, as an imposing shadow alighted in their mist.

Him, wearing a half buttoned cream colored dress shirt and wrestling with a green tie between his claws cleared his throat with a rumbling, shaking stones down from the craven above.

"_But Bubblikins, deeearest, that is what **slaaves** are for.._."

The group nodded, edging toward the visible, small, blue slipper adored feet.

'That's what_ paid servants_ are for, and I have plenty of help, I have Bastian."

One after the other a mismatched assortment of knifes, dried flowers, hair adornments and jewelry shown under the domed skylight of the room, dragged from the unseen depths by a mix of puff palms and tiny hands.

"Ba!"

"Thank you Bastian."

Him floated in place, stopping in his attempt to make his tie live up to its title to watch the bobbing of the small shape plopping objects into Bubbles line of sight with eager attention seeking energy.

"Ba?"

The black curls poking out of a hooded yellow duck onezy tilted to the side, chubby fingers hands offering a battered hair brush.

Overhead the sound of a bitten back squeal at inhuman range rang and fell silent in a puff of pink smoke.

"Thank you, Bassy!" Bubbles said with a worn sigh.

An ancient looking see and say, half raised, offered a crackling "The cow says Moooooo!"

"We need your left shoe, not a toy! Not anything else, a SHOE!"

Bubbles hissed through clinched teeth, pulling frazzled knee length blonde hair smooth with a whip that offset the puffy dark circles under her eyes.

A weighted silence mixed with Him's smile fell on the clear green eyes, almost the enormous circles of a full blooded puff.

Bastian blinked, grabbing a handful of Bubbles trailing hair as his father hosted him to a hip.

"_Mo_?"

Him nodded with a lick of his claw, running it's side to slick back baby curls and lingering to pet the strands of corn silk blonde hair before releasing them neatly.

An extra blue bow floated out of a neighboring dresser, smoothing down and tieing back that side of her hair in a sprinkle of pink energy.

"What he said. Um, honey-quince, what seems to have crawled up your backside_, built a series of lovely luxury condos and passed away of a ripe old age **surrounded by backstabbing relations**_?"

"I..It's just this is our first time out together as a family..around everyone I'm worried."

"_Whatever about?_"

"Us. Bastian... You."

Bubbles head dipped down only to be lifted under the chin by a polished claw tip.

"Trust me, there is nothing that can be heard I haven't already **planned in their idol minds**._ And nothing these deep pools of untapped potential couldn't melt with a look, oh_!" Him fluttered unnaturally large yellow eyes for a split second. Miles above what sounded like cars crashing into one another echoed.

"I know it's just still..all those people and the goodwill and love everywhere you know you always..."

A small cloud of magenta smoke wove suddenly around Him's boots, tapping against each of them. It froze and silently curled into a frustrated scribble of light above the reach of Bastian's grabbing hands as Bubbles talked on, completely stealing his attention.

"Daddy, daddy, look at me! Look look aren't I pretty? Aren't I _**so beautiful**_ you want to take me with you?" The small form of Ursula finally popped into being, her flower girl version of the peach and yellow maid of honor dress crinkling as she spun in a circle.

"_ Yes yes, and_ **no**. _I said no, you know_ _**the rule**_." Him sighed, pushing his eldest daughter's rose woven black hair out of his line of sight without so much as turning to her and returning to smiling at Bubbles

"Not this time, I swear you'll see, not a trick from me!"

The sound of a small demonic growl and whispered words faded without protest._  
_

"Weddings themselves, my kept ladydove, already are simply bursting with things that could go wrong by and for their very nature, I needn't help along what is already tipping over and over introducing itself to my lap. In fact if you'd rather I could even.."

"No, no that's okay. Keep your face. It's you." Bubbles hand lingered against a pink misted cheek, catching Him's magic dust as it froze into startled sand on the carpet. With a slow drift the wide green eyes of a teenager grew squinted glowing yellow as the bare skin between the ribbons of a corset offered itself under a flowing blue dressing gown.

"All this talk, we're going to be late! Not too many of your fancy bows this time, hm? I can never untie them!"


End file.
